First PC Build Advice

chas373Apr 10, 2012, 3:25 PM

Hi All - (wishlist at bottom)I'm a relative noob when it comes to PC-laptop building/repair etc. Advice will be greatly appreciated. I am planning a desktop build within the next month or so.From all I have read in the various forums theres alot of new stuff coming and I plan to time the purchasing of parts accordingly. I currently have a Dell 1747 laptop as my only PC. Its running with an i7 920 cpu @ 1.6 Ghz with 8 Gb Mem. It also has a Radeon 560V graphics card. Its laggy, occasional BSOD and random shutdown/reboot. It needs to have a fresh windows install. And I want to use it as a backup in case this new desktop ever goes down. The desktop i want to be a little of everything including a HTPC. I want it to be blazing fast and especially so with iTunes/iPhone and streaming movies. Photo editing being quickly done will be nice. For games I just want the option to be able to play at a reasonable frame rate. (Used to play Half Life and loved it) but more important is the GPU being able to do the job with Blueray and in the future 3D movies. I want Bluetooth 4.0 and tho I will have it wired to the net i want the option of wifi in the event I move it in future. I dont think I will need the new Ivy Bridge thats coming but I am open to suggestions. If you see anything thats not compatible I'd appreciate hearing it. Thx in advance

Purchase Date: End of April Beginning of May '12Budget Range: 2000Usage will be iTunes, Surfing, Streaming Movies photo editing, gamingParts not required : keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakersPreferred Website but open to suggestions: newegg.comIn the US.

Will want to try some overclocking Want the option of SLI in the future42" Plasma TV as Monitor. Reso is (I think) 1920x1080

I chose the 650 Obsidian cause of the front usb ports, more of them than the Carbide.I think you're right with waiting for Ivy Bridge. for the same money as the 2700 why not wait a couple weeks?The Mushkin SSD I havent read anything about. It all seems to be about Crucial, OCZ, Plextor, Samsung. I will read up on it.The XFX PSU sounds interesting of course I didnt know that Seasonic makes their PSU's and they rebrand them. It would save a few bucks off the total outlay. Seagate 2 TB vs WD 1.5 TB both have the same 64MB cache and 7200 rpm speed. Seagate seems to be the better way to go.

I'm curious about the GSkill vs Corasair Vengence. its more money and I think same specs. Just that the Gskill is lower profile (and will hurt my eyes to see the bad color combo with the all blue Asus board lol)

Of course the savings you generated allows for cutting edge new GTX 680 card I have to look at sime things again but you have been a good help thanks

I chose the 650 Obsidian cause of the front usb ports, more of them than the Carbide.I think you're right with waiting for Ivy Bridge. for the same money as the 2700 why not wait a couple weeks?The Mushkin SSD I havent read anything about. It all seems to be about Crucial, OCZ, Plextor, Samsung. I will read up on it.The XFX PSU sounds interesting of course I didnt know that Seasonic makes their PSU's and they rebrand them. It would save a few bucks off the total outlay. Seagate 2 TB vs WD 1.5 TB both have the same 64MB cache and 7200 rpm speed. Seagate seems to be the better way to go.

I'm curious about the GSkill vs Corasair Vengence. its more money and I think same specs. Just that the Gskill is lower profile (and will hurt my eyes to see the bad color combo with the all blue Asus board lol)

Of course the savings you generated allows for cutting edge new GTX 680 card I have to look at sime things again but you have been a good help thanks

With RAM you want low heat spreaders, and you don't ever want to go with a 4x4GB kit. You want 2x8GB so you don't have all four RAM slots full sitting side by side creating heat. Also it leaves you room for expansion to add another 2x8GB kit if you ever feel the need to expand to 32GB.

As far as choice of vid card goes, any gamer knows that you get the best gpu your budget affords you without skimping on quality for the rest of the components. That card is obviously the gtx 680 hands down. It's in your budget and I see no reason for you to purchase an inferior card. Get the best your money can buy. It's all about FPS in regards to gaming.

For that Corsair 650D...look for that case on Amazon. It's currently going for $162 + free shipping on that site.

With the Mushkin SSD's..they are the bargain of SSD's atm. Fast, reliable and they don't break the bank.

Hmm... how come? I'm just interested. But yeah, both of those are nice... just check out some graphs/benchmarks on your favorite games across the internet, and pick the one you like. For example, the GTX 560 Ti performs better on lower resolutions than the 7850, but the 7850 wins on higher resolutions. That kind of thing... but like 7870 vs 7950 vs GTX 680

With RAM you want low heat spreaders, and you don't ever want to go with a 4x4GB kit. You want 2x8GB so you don't have all four RAM slots full sitting side by side creating heat. Also it leaves you room for expansion to add another 2x8GB kit if you ever feel the need to expand to 32GB.

As far as choice of vid card goes, any gamer knows that you get the best gpu your budget affords you without skimping on quality for the rest of the components. That card is obviously the gtx 680 hands down. It's in your budget and I see no reason for you to purchase an inferior card. Get the best your money can buy. It's all about FPS in regards to gaming.

For that Corsair 650D...look for that case on Amazon. It's currently going for $162 + free shipping on that site.

With the Mushkin SSD's..they are the bargain of SSD's atm. Fast, reliable and they don't break the bank.

Thanks Again I didnt think about the extra heat of 4 sticks of mem vs 2. Also I guess many people really want the look of the sticks with the heat spreaders. Which doesnt really concern me.Plus no conflicts with the CM Hyper 212 fitting.

Newegg had the 650 D for sale at 159 about two weeks ago but I wasnt ready to buy everything and still pretty sure I will wait till the 3770K is out.